Warning! Spoiler Alert!
The titular character of Jean de Florette (Gerard Depardieu) is a hunchbacked tax collector who inherits a run down farm in
Provence. All of the locals figure he'll sell the farm, but Jean has a dream. He moves there with his wife, Aimee (Elisabeth Depardieu), and his daughter, Manon (Ernestine Mazurowna) to raise rabbits. This doesn't set to well with the local big shot, Cesar Soubeyran (Yves Montand), and his nephew, Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil). They want the land, which is the richest in the province, and the spring that's on it so they can raise flowers. In order to force Jean to sell out cheap, they block up the spring before he arrives, but Jean is determined to see his dream become a reality. When told that the only water is another spring a mile and a half away, Jean goes ahead and builds his rabbit farm. Then he begins the arduous task of hauling water from the distant spring on his mule and on his back. He does this for two years, as his crops and his rabbits die. Then using the farm as collateral, he borrows money from Cesar to dig a well. While dynamiting rock in the well, Jean is critically injured and dies a few days later. Aimee sells the farm to Cesar at a ridiculously low price. As she is preparing to leave, Manon sees Cesar and Ugolin unblocking the spring, releasing the water that would have saved both the farm and Jean.
In Manon of the Spring, we find Manon (Emmanuelle Beart), now grown to a beautiful young woman, herding goats in the hills near Cesar Soubeyran's farm. One day, she discovers the source of
the water that feeds not only the spring on her father's old farm, but also Cesar's spring and the town's well. Having finally found a way to take revenge on the people who caused her father's death, she blocks up the spring, cutting off the water supply for the entire valley. Chaos ensues as the farmers and villagers fight over who's going to get what little water there is and who's to blame for the shortage. Meanwhile, Ugolin has become obsessed with Manon, whom he saw skinny dipping in the woods. He swears his undying love for her, even offering to pay her to be his wife, but she hasn't forgotten that he caused her father's death. Besides, she only has eyes for the new young school teacher, Bernard (Hippolyte Girardot). In despair, Ugolin hangs himself, and Manon unplugs the spring, letting the water flow back to the thirsty valley. As she and Bernard wed, Cesar learns that Jean was his own son from a tryst he had as a young man with a woman named Florette before he joined the army.
Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring are beautifully filmed in the rugged hills of Provence. Director Claude Berri makes us feel the heat of the relentless sun beating down on the arid landscape. I found myself longing for a glass of cold water, as I watched Jean hauling the heavy water cans up and down the steep path to water his thirsty crops and rabbits. In fact, this is a story about thirst - the land's thirst for water, Ceasr's thirst for land that isn't his, Ugolin's thirst for Manon, Jean's thirst for his dream, and Manon's thirst for her father's revenge. In the end, water flows again, in both the literal and the spiritual sense. Before he dies, Cesar wills his entire estate, which includes Jean's farm, to Manon, the last of the Soubeyrans. So the first end up being last, and the meek truly do inherit the earth.
Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring are both rated PG.
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